Selected article in Wikipedia

The Stielers Handatlas (after Adolf Stieler, 1775-1836), formally titled "Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude", was the leading German world atlas of the last three decades of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Published by Justus Perthes of Gotha (established 1785 and still existing there) it went through ten editions from 1816 to 1944. As with many 19th century publications, an edition was issued in parts; for example, the eighth edition was issued in 32 monthly parts.

The first edition, by Stieler and Christian Gottlieb Reichard (1758-1837) was published beginning in 1817 and completed in 1823 (50 maps). After Stieler's death Friedrich von Stülpnagel (1786-1865) edited the second (1845-47) and third (1852-54) editions (both 83 maps); a fourth edition appeared 1862-64, a fifth 1866-68 (each 84 maps). (read more...)

Selected map

In 1570 (May 20) was issued, by Gilles Coppens de Diest at Antwerp, Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the "first modern atlas" (of 53 maps). Three Latin editions of this (besides a Dutch, a French and a German edition) appeared before the end of 1572; twenty-five editions came out before Ortelius' death in 1598; and several others were published subsequently, for the atlas continued to be in demand till about 1612. This is the world map from this atlas.

Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, three of which have been of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science. The first is the astronomical treatise that is now known as the Almagest (in Greek Η μεγάλη Σύνταξις, "The Great Treatise"). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise known as the Tetrabiblos ("Four books") in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristoteliannatural philosophy of his day. (read more...)

Some special maps

The maps below are examples of various forms of maps published in Wikimedia

Evolution of the Australian colonies, a rare example of an animated map

Iceland in the winter, an example of a satellite map

Greek territorial development, a history map

The World War II Pacific Theater as it appeared in August, 1942 - A war map, a special form of a history map

Old map, that shows Hungary and the bordering Balkan regions controlled by the Ottoman Empire, made by T. Jefferys in 1785

The Vinland map, an old map purportedly a 15th century Mappa Mundi, redrawn from a 13th century original

Notes and references

General remarks:

The WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Atlas of the World is an organized and commented collection of geographical, political and historical maps available at Wikimedia Commons. The main page is therefore the portal to maps and cartography on Wikimedia. That page contains links to entries by country, continent and by topic as well as general notes and references.

Every entry has an introduction section in English. If other languages are native and/or official in an entity, introductions in other languages are added in separate sections. The text of the introduction(s) is based on the content of the Wikipedia encyclopedia. For sources of the introduction see therefore the Wikipedia entries linked to. The same goes for the texts in the history sections.

Historical maps are included in the continent, country and dependency entries.

The status of various entities is disputed. See the content for the entities concerned.

The maps of former countries that are more or less continued by a present-day country or had a territory included in only one or two countries are included in the atlas of the present-day country. For example the Ottoman Empire can be found in the Atlas of Turkey.